Paralyzed teen's family mourns theft of wheelchair-accessible van

Deetreena Perteet and her son Ondelee, 16, who was paralyzed from the neck down in 2009 during a shooting at a birthday party. The family's wheelchair-accessible van was stolen Wednesday. (Carlos Javier Ortiz, Photo for the Tribune)

Deetreena Perteet said her heart sank as she watched her 1998 Dodge Caravan screech away from her Bronzeville home with a thief behind the wheel.

Her boyfriend had jostled her awake Wednesday morning just in time to witness the wheelchair-accessible minivan being stolen. Since then, the mother of four said she has been in tears, praying for the return of the van she needs for her paralyzed 16-year-old son.

"I cried all last night, all yesterday morning," Perteet said Thursday, her voice breaking. "I want my van back. That van meant so much to me and my family."

Her son, Ondelee Perteet, is holding out hope of finding the van.

"(I felt) a little bit of everything. I didn't know what to think," he said. "I was just hoping that we could get our van back. I was wondering if we (were) ever going to get it back."

Ondelee was 14 when he was shot in the jaw during a birthday party melee near Augusta and Laramie avenues on the city's West Side in September 2009.

The bullet severed the boy's spine, paralyzing him from the neck down.

Now instead of only enduring stress for the trial, scheduled to start early next month, the family has the added anxiety of waiting for their minivan to reappear.

His family was given the bright red minivan as a Christmas gift last year from a local car dealer touched by the family's plight.

The donation was arranged by urban advertising and marketing consultant Samariah Smith, who, after the theft, was already racing to come up with ways to replace the minivan if it doesn't turn up.

"I'm hoping that the van turns up because the first one really meant a lot to them," said Smith, who runs Violentruth.com, which organizes youth anti-violence rallies and events.

"I've already started making calls," she said.

Smith said she was considering contacting car dealers or perhaps arranging a talent show to fund a replacement.

Ondelee Perteet's voice rises when he recalls the day his family was handed the keys to the van. "I (couldn't) believe it. Somebody gave us a car, like a car," he said.

The minivan meant freedom to visit friends and family and even go to the movies.

"We need that van to go grocery shopping, to go on family outings, to pick up family members and stuff like that," Ondelee Perteet said.

The Caravan was taken from the 600 block of East 43rd Street around 6 a.m. Wednesday. It had an Illinois license plate "K825852," with an August 2012 expiration. Anyone with information is asked to call Wentworth Area detectives at 312-747-8382.